[Index]
WASME Participation in the Expert Meeting
on Good Governance
for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
Geneva, 22 April 2004 - The Expert
Meeting on Good Governance for SMEs took place
at the Palais des Nations on 1-2 April 2004,
with participation by nearly 200 experts from
33 countries and 15 international organizations.
A seven-member delegation
from the World Association for Small and Medium
Enterprises (WASME) comprising senior office
bearers and officials participated in the
programme, including Ms. Mary Lou Guerrero
(Gibraltar), Mr. Ovidiu Nicolescu (Romania),
Mr. G. O. Asiegbu (Nigeria), Mr. O. O. Olayinka
(Nigeria), Mr. Brian L. Dunsby (United Kingdom),
Mr. Arun Agrawal, General Secretary, WASME
and Mr. Rajeev Kapil, WASME Secretariat.
Ms. Guerrero, President of
the Gibraltar Federation of Small Business,
moderated the presentation on tourism development
grant scheme at the 6th Forum on Best Practice
in Development of SMEs in Countries in Transition:
The Romanian and Slovak Experiences, Mr. Nicolescu
also made presentations and Mr. Dunsby, Principal
of Perlex Associates, Organizer of the ICSB
WC2003 and ICSB NC2004 Conferences (United
Kingdom), chaired the session on Government
Policies in Non-Accession Countries and Business
Ethics. Mr. Agrawal made a presentation on
Good Governance for SMEs with special reference
to practices in South/South-East Asian Countries.
During his presentation,
Mr. Agrawal provided details of good governance
practices for development of SMEs in selected
Asian economies. He spoke about the Global
Compact programme initiated by the Secretary-General
of the United Nations in 1999 to encourage
the private sector to exercise Corporate Social
and Environmental Responsibility (CSER). Mr.
Agrawal stated that as at September 2003,
as per the Global Compact database 19 per
cent of the 1,200 signatories to the Programme
were SMEs. According to a survey carried out
recently by UNIDO, a large majority of SMEs
spent between 1-10 per cent of their turnover
on special benefits to employees and on environmental
conservation. This indicates that the CSER
agenda is fairly well embedded in the operations
of the SME signatories to the Global Compact.
Mr. Agrawal, however, felt that in South/South-East
Asian economies, excepting a few examples,
SMEs were generally not able to link the importance
of CSER to their business strategies, considering
CSER instead to be more of a humanitarian
effort. He, therefore, advocated the need
to create greater awareness amongst SMEs on
this issue. Mr. Agrawal then expressed WASME’s
interest in working closely with the UNECE
in heightening visibility and understanding
of these concepts amongst SMEs.
In closing, Mr. Agrawal extended
an invitation to all the participants to attend
the 15th International Conference on SMEs
to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, 19-22 July 2004.
This event is being organized with the support
of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Industry.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship
and SMEs
United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe
Palais des Nations, Bureau 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: + 41(0)22 917
24 71
Telefax: + 41(0)22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected]
Ref: ECE/IREEDD/04/N01